Penn State HR Launches New Employee Onboarding Program
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — On Tuesday, March 1, 2022, Penn State Human Resources (HR) will launch a new employee onboarding program. All University new hires and graduate appointees will now participate in the new employee onboarding experience. The program is designed to ensure that all new hires and graduate appointees have access to important University information and resources throughout their first days and weeks with Penn State.
The new onboarding program begins with the Onboarding Dashboard, which resides in Workday. The dashboard will serve as the hub for all new employee information — a one-stop shop for the delivery of important and timely information, compliance related tasks, and guidance for all new employees and appointees.
The following four key components to this new onboarding program are below.
- Welcome Email
- An automated and consistent message to all new employees/appointees welcoming them to the University.
- Welcome Announcement & Video
- A short video welcoming our new employees/appointees to the University and highlighting Penn State’s diverse employee population and locations throughout the Commonwealth.
- Workday Onboarding Dashboard
- This new employee/appointee “hub” highlights all onboarding responsibilities expected.
- New Employee Website
- New webpages have been built within the HR website that link to a variety of University resources and campus, unit, and college websites.
This program has been a highly collaborative effort, led by Human Resources. The project relied on strong partnerships with the WorkLion Management Office (WMO), the Enterprise Project Management Office (EPMO), and subject matter experts from across the University. The improved employee onboarding experience:
- Creates a welcoming and inclusive first impression,
- Provides an experience that is consistent regardless of geographic location,
- Provides content in real time that is relevant and up-to-date,
- Makes onboarding responsibilities clear and easy to follow,
- Prioritizes the steps required to begin work,
- Leverages technology to streamline the experience,
- Contains referenceable content, and
- Provides progress visibility to the hiring manager.
“Today marks a significant milestone for Human Resources. We have been aware of gaps in the onboarding experience for new hires and appointees for several years. The launch of this new program is a critical first step in a multi-phased approach to building an onboarding program that welcomes new hires and appointees and allows them to quickly find and access important information and resources needed for success in their first days and weeks at the University,” states Christy Helms, senior director of talent management for Human Resources.
The launch of this program builds on the release of an interim onboarding dashboard that rolled out last August, as well as the introduction of Workday-delivered notifications to the new hire/appointee and hiring manager related to completion status of important tasks that were implemented in November 2021.
To learn more about the onboarding program, check out the following resources:
- Knowledge Base Article: “Onboarding- An Overview”
- Step-by-Step Job Aid: “Navigating the Workday Onboarding Dashboard”
- Informational Sessions: Attend one of the four informational sessions available during March. These sessions will include a walk-thru demonstration of the onboarding process as well as a live Q&A with members of the project team. All employees are welcome to attend. Hiring managers are strongly encouraged.
Additional questions can be directed to HR Services at 814-865-1473.